Brittany Fousheé, welcomed to the stage as Fousheé, is an anomaly of R&B. As she pivots her songwriting towards the alternative, the New Jersey singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer operates by her own accord, shrugging off her viral magnetism with a pang of the unexpected. The result is familiar yet daring, swinging between the comfort of her hazy acoustics and edgy, cross-genre experimentation. If 2021’s debut ‘time machine’ revelled in a dream-like stillness, the subsequent ‘softCORE’ unleashed the artist’s inner rage, a love letter to pop-punk, screamo and indie with stripped-back vocal flourishes. Finding her strength in contrast, Fousheé lands herself in a unique position where we trust her intuition, an unresting force that illustrates her complexities as an artist, a collaborator and a self-professed introvert.
‘Pointy Heights’, Fousheé’s latest full-length album, addresses identity from a more direct and retrospective angle. Following a trip to the homeland, the artist delves into her Jamaican roots from the standpoint of adulthood, tracing back the influence of her mother’s record collection as a member of the all-female reggae group, P.E.P. Glancing over this period during her CLASH 124 profile, the artist reflects: “Musically what I got from that type of exposure was the songwriting of Bob Marley who also happened to be this larger-than-life Rockstar. I picked up the guitar much later on but I can trace my love of strong basslines and rhythmic sounds to that influence.” In turn, ‘Pointy Heights’ manifests the artist’s adoration for rich instrumentations and off-kilter melodies, making reference to 70s ska and reggae with a gritty, new wave twist.
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Kicking off with the disco-tinged ‘birds&bees’, Fousheé approaches her opening track with a light, playful energy, a charismatic introduction that incorporates raw flecks of DIY production. In a similar fashion, the lush, cinematic strings of ‘feels like home’ strike against the vocalist’s airy delivery, in equal parts husky, soaring and full of range. Turning towards a vintage palette of sounds, the artist pieces together a bitter-sweet listen, establishing her style across doo-wop harmonies and ballad verses that tumble into the slow-burning grunge of ‘100bux’. A definite highlight across the project, Foushée taps into the hedonistic undertones of her prior work, placing her haunting interpolations of Musical Youth’s ‘Pass The Dutchie’ over washes of distortion. In her attention to detail, the artist subtly bridges her different worlds, masterfully demonstrated between the moody croons and rock-steady keys of ‘war’, or the Western-twang of ‘closer’ with its brisk, strums, plucks and dynamic riffs. The bubbling beats of ‘rice + peas’ are quirky and addictive, throwing dashes of synth-pop and electronica into the mix.
Creeping under the thirty-minute mark, ‘Pointy Heights’ is full of thrills, a conceptual body of work that makes each moment count. In doing so, Fousheé continues to earn her stripes as a vocalist driven by self-expression, stitching together her intrigue for the past, present and future.
8/10
Words: Ana Lamond
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